This is my post for #freewriters Monday prompt eponym hosted by @mariannewest
I had to look up the meaning of eponym, I have never heard it before and truth be told, I was wondering about the spelling, sorry for doubting you @mariannewest.
This is what google says it means, a person after whom a discovery, invention, place, etc., is named or thought to be named My husband fits this description.
When we gillnet fished, all of the other fishermen were using the same nets that have been used by older fishermen for years. The mesh size determined the size of fish that the net caught. We used a 2 and 7/8 mesh to catch a pan fish called spots, a smaller size caught too small of a fish and a bigger size like 3 inches, they would all go through the net.
When it came to catching roe mullet everyone used a 3 and 1/2 mesh, the problem with this was that the bigger mullet would bounce off of the net. If you used a 4-inch mesh, you lost fish by them swimming through the mesh.
My husband had the idea of putting two different size meshes on one net. He hung a 3 and 1/2 and 4-inch together and when he circled the fish, the 4-inch was always on the inside, this way when the smaller fish went through the 4-inch they would catch in the 3 and 1/2 and he caught both sizes. If a fish went through both, then it was too small to keep.
After the net ban, the fishermen were trying to castnet Spanish mackerel, they tried all kinds of castnets, even putting duct tape on the lead line to keep it from closing in deep water. My husband made a castnet with no tuck strings and when it was thrown, it had a huge opening in the top of it. Castnets all have a horn on the top of them, he did away with the horn. This lets the castnet stay open and sinks faster. Nowadays everyone who castnets mackerel uses this style of castnet that my husband invented. The eponym for this net should be The Donny net.
When we grew clams, he invented this to push the rolling grass from the clam bags that were planted on the bottom of the river. It should be called Donny's grass pusher.
all photos are mine
